Moritz Schwalb

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Moritz Schwalb (born November 17, 1833 in Munich , † September 5, 1916 in Königsfeld in the Black Forest ) was an important liberal Protestant pastor, author and editor.

Life

Moritz Schwalb was born in Munich as the son of the Jewish businessman Moses Schwalb (1796–1866) and his wife Julie Wolff († 1869). Both parents came from pious, traditionally oriented families. Schwalb's grandfather and great-grandfather on his mother's side were rabbis .

Around 1845 Moritz Schwalb's parents settled in Paris , where he grew up. There he attended the Lycée Charlemagne . He converted to Protestantism at fifteen and was baptized in Paris in 1849. Until 1853 he kept in close contact with the Église luthérienne des Billettes . At the suggestion of the pastor Louis Meyer, who had introduced him to dogmatics, he began studying theology. He studied in Basel (1853 to 1855) and in Strasbourg (1855-1856) and acquired the title of Bachelier en Théologie at the University of Strasbourg in 1857 . In 1858 an educational trip to Jena, Berlin, Halle, Göttingen and Hermannsburg followed. In the following two years he studied at the University of Tübingen and the University of Heidelberg . Of the teachers in Tübingen, Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860) should be emphasized. In Heidelberg, Richard Rothe (1799–1867), then the leading representative of Liberal Protestantism, was of particular importance to Schwalb.

He was ordained a pastor on January 12, 1859 in Anduze in the Gard department , where he initially worked as an assistant preacher. From 1861 he worked in Haguenau in Lower Alsace and from 1863 to 1867 in Strasbourg. During his time in Strasbourg, he was in charge of editing the “Revue de Strasbourg”. In 1859 he acquired the title of licentiate in theology at the Protestant theological faculty of the University of Strasbourg with the work "Étude comparative des doctrines de Mélanchthon, Zwingle et Calvin". In 1866 he received his doctorate at the Strasbourg University with the thesis "Luther, ses opinions religieuses et morales pendant la première période de la réforme" (in German under the title "Luther's teachings during his storm and stress period" published in Berlin in 1872) to the doctorate Theology.

Moritz Schwalb was elected pastor of the St. Martini parish in Bremen on September 1, 1867, on the recommendation of his teacher Professor Richard Rothe . He was the candidate of the liberal party of the Bremen regional church. His predecessor in the office of Georg Gottfried Treviranus would have preferred the more orthodox Ernst Christian Achelis as his successor. Schwalb was active in the " German Protestant Association " and contributed to the "Protestantenblatt" as an author and member of the editorial team. In Bremen he was repeatedly involved in violent disputes, some of which resulted in his resignation from office. However, since the first serious conflict in 1868 he was able to gain considerable support within his community. The conflict went back to a lecture in the Protestant Association on the subject of "The old and the new faith in Christ" and led to the resignation of numerous conservative parishioners, but also the entry of numerous liberal Bremen residents. In the late 1880s, however, he saw himself more and more isolated within his church, and health problems arose. In 1888 he resigned from the “Protestant Association” and no longer took part in the “Protestantenblatt”. In December 1893 he applied for retirement, after which he was retired on March 31, 1894. He left Bremen to avoid his more conservative opponents. He then worked as a freelance journalist and preacher in Heidelberg and later in Strasbourg. During a visit to Königsfeld he died on September 5, 1916.

Schwalb had been married to Marie Stuber since 1860, who died in 1882. In the same year he married Anna Margarete Bruns, widowed Nagel. The two marriages resulted in a total of four daughters and three sons.

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Despite his early change of faith, Schwalb remained connected to the tradition of modern Western European Judaism. Accordingly, he tried to create a bridge between Christianity and Judaism in sermons and publications and thus to bring about an agreement between these religions. He used texts from the Old Testament to make it clear that Christianity was based on this biblical foundation. Although he saw Jesus as a religious leader, the ethical appeal of the proclamation carried by him should apply regardless of the historical figure of Jesus. In this way, especially in Schwalb's later works, Jesus became more and more the outstanding witness of an ethics conceived as universal instead of the condition for this ethics. Accordingly, ethics had to be adapted to modern conditions, such as individualism, regardless of the person of Jesus.

Publications

  • Étude comparative des doctrines de Mélanchthon, Zwingle et Calvin, Strasbourg / Paris 1859
  • Luther, ses opinions religieuses et morales pendant la première période de la réforme, Strasbourg / Paris 1866 (Luther's teaching during his Sturm und Drang period, Berlin 1872)
  • Sermon, delivered in the St. Martini Church on March 17, 1867, Bremen undated [1867]
  • Appointment of Pastor Dr. Schwalb zu St. Martini on September 1, 1867, Bremen undated [1867]
  • The old and the new faith in Christ. A lecture given in the Protestant Association, Bremen 1868 (second, unchanged edition, Bremen 1868; third, unchanged edition, Bremen 1868)
  • Christ and the Gospels. Ten lectures, Bremen 1868
  • The teaching of Jesus presented according to the first three Gospels. Two lectures given in the Protestant Association, Leipzig 1869
  • Sermons, Bremen 1869
  • Elevation through self-humiliation. Sermon on July 27, 1870, Bremen without a year
  • Confirmations sermon on April 2, 1871, Bremen without a year
  • Christ and the Gospels. Ten lectures, Bremen 1872
  • The little book of the imitation of Christ, Berlin 1872
  • Three Easter Sermons, Bremen without a year (1872)
  • Handbook on religious instruction, Bremen 1874
  • The basis of our faith. Lecture given at the Protestant Association in Bremen on November 26, 1879, Bremen 1879
  • The apostle Paul. Six lectures, Zurich 1876
  • The basis of our faith. Lecture, Bremen 1880 (Second, unchanged edition, Bremen 1880)
  • The light and dark sides of ecclesiastical Christianity. Lecture, Bremen (self-published) 1882
  • Christ and Judaism. Lecture given at the Protestant Reform Association in Berlin on February 27, 1883 (separate print from the correspondence sheet for church reform), Berlin 1883
  • Luther's development from monk to reformer (collection of generally understandable scientific lectures. Series 19 / issue 438), Berlin 1884
  • Critique of the revised Luther Bible, Berlin 1884
  • Our four Gospels explained and critically examined, Berlin 1885
  • To illuminate the horse mackerel myth. A free word, Berlin 1885
  • Ailments and Achievements of Church Protestantism. Pulpit speeches, Leipzig 1888
  • One or several Bible translations ?, Deutsches Protestantenblatt 21 (1888), 220–221
  • The overestimation of the Luther Bible, Deutsches Protestantenblatt 21 (1888), 228-229
  • Should the Bible become a school book ?, Deutsches Protestantenblatt 21 (1888), 236–238
  • How the Old Testament is used in synagogues and in Jewish religious instruction, Deutsches Protestantenblatt 21 (1888), 241–242
  • Should the Bible become a people's book ?, Deutsches Protestantenblatt 21 (1888), 244–245
  • Worship and deification of man. Lecture given in the local of the Bremen Protestant Association, Leipzig 1889
  • Elias the Prophet. An old Hebrew epic, discussed in eleven sermons, Leipzig 1889
  • Aims and obstacles of a church reform movement. Pulpit speeches (second collection), Leipzig 1890
  • Our morals and the morals of Jesus. Pulpit speeches. Third collection, 1891
  • Religious issues of the time. First volume: Seven pulpit speeches and one lecture, Bremen undated (1892)
  • Religious issues of the time. Second volume: Collected essays, Bremen undated (1892)
  • A word about religious instruction and religious education was spoken on January 31, 1892, Bremen 1982
  • The Prussian Elementary School Act. Lecture given at a meeting of the German Freisinnigen Verein zu Bremen on March 3, 1892, Bremen 1892
  • Is Jesus the Redeemer? Seven pulpit speeches, Bremen 1894 (Second edition: Bremen 1894)
  • Review of twenty-six years of office. Eighteen pulpit speeches, Bremen 1894
  • Open letter to Pastor Dr. Otto Funke, Bremen 1900
  • Introductory letter to: Emil Kühn: The meaning of Montaigne for our time, Strasbourg 1904
Edited and edited writings
  • Blaise Pascal. Speeches and essays. Berlin 1892
  • Moritz Grünwald: On the influence of the Psalms on the development of Christian liturgy and hymnology, with constant consideration of the Talmudic-Midrash literature (On the Influence of the Psalms. Book V), Frankfurt am Main 1893. Additions and corrections by Sebastian Euringer and Moritz Swallow.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schwalb, Moritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Liberal Protestant pastor
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH September 5, 1916
Place of death Königsfeld in the Black Forest